Joey Chestnut Retains Hotdog Eating Title; Former Rival Arrested

Joey Chestnut did it again! However, the winning mark was nowhere near his record that he set last year.

Chestnut, 26 years old from California, ate 54 hotdogs and buns at the annual Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest. This is his fourth year as champion but he was not able to break his record of 68 hotdogs last year.

Not competing this year is former champion Takeru Kobayashi. He won the title six years in a row from 2001 until 2006. He was not able to compete because of contract restrictions with Major League Eating. Frustrated that he cannot join this year, he made his way to the stage of this year’s competition. That is when he was arrested.

Kobayashi, 31, faces two misdemeanors and one violation. The two misdemeanors were resisting arrest and obstructing government administration which he merited for interfering with the police. The violation was trespassing which is equivalent to a low-level charge like a traffic violation.